BEIRUT: Ernst & Young’s benchmark survey of the Middle East hotel sector showed that the average occupancy rate at Beirut’s hotels was 55 percent in the first seven months of 2011, down from 74 percent in the same period last year.

The occupancy rate at Beirut hotels was the sixth lowest among 21 markets in the region, while it was the ninth highest in the first seven months of 2010, as reported by Lebanon This Week, the economic publication of the Byblos Bank Group. The survey said the average rate per room at Beirut hotels was $219 in the first seven months of 2011, making the capital’s hotels the seventh most expensive in the region.

The average rate per room at Beirut hotels decreased by 15.8 percent year-on-year and it posted the second steepest decrease among all markets in the region, behind Hurghada in Egypt. The average rate per room in Beirut came above the regional average of $181, which declined by 1.4 percent from $183 in the same period of 2010.

Occupancy rates at Beirut hotels were 44 percent in January, 42 percent in February, 53 percent in March, 61 percent in April, 58 percent in May, 62 percent in June and 67 percent in July, compared to 64 percent in January, 76 percent in February, 68 percent in March, 79 percent in April, 71 percent in May, 77 percent in June and 80 percent in July 2010.

During Ramadan most of the hotels in Beirut reported an occupancy rate of less than 50 percent with Europeans being the main visitors. “Europeans were our main visitors during Ramadan and the occupancy rate reached only 40 percent,” the head of the reservations desk at Mayflower hotel told The Daily Star three days ago.

As for the period extending from Aug. 28 and until the end of the first week of September, Beirut hotels reported an occupancy rate of 100 percent compared to 90 percent in Bhamdoun and Aley with other regions registering only 50 percent occupancy during that period. Most of the visitors during that period were Arabs, including Syrians who came for vacation or with the aim of avoiding the instability in their country, as some hotels stated.

Tourism Minister Fadi Abboud commented on this high occupancy rate by saying he doesn’t really expect great improvement in the tourism activity following Eid al-Fitr or before the end of this year due to the turmoil prevailing in the region.

Further, revenues per available room (RevPAR) were $123 in Beirut in the first 7 months of 2011, down from $192 in the same period last year, ranking it in 11th place in the region behind Muscat, Dubai City and Riyadh and ahead of Al Ain, Dubai Apartments and Madina. Beirut’s RevPAR was down 36.3 percent year-on-year, compared to a decrease of 10.6 percent across the region. Beirut posted RevPARs of $99 in January, $84 in February, $107 in March, $120 in April, $119 in May, $142 in June and $184 in July compared to RevPARs of $160 in January, $209 in February, $155 in March, $208 in April, $158 in May, $188 in June and $270 in July 2010. Dubai Beach posted the highest average room rate in the region at $324 and the highest RevPAR at $272, while Dubai Apartments posted the highest occupancy rate at 85 percent in the first seven months of the year.